Velocity
by JaceDLark
Summary: After Billy Telfer's run in with the dark matter aliens, he finds himself thrust into a Velocity tournament, making new friends and perhaps even finding time for a fling. Eventual SLASH & HET relationships. Usual disclaimers apply. ST Voyager - Not mine! Telfala.
1. Chapter 1

Howdy. So I got sick of reading about Tom and Chak, so I thought I'd explore a lesser used pair. Actually, I don't think I've seen much fic with Telfer as a lead so this might be more unique than I first thought. Either way, I'm calling them Telfala. Since there was only one episode with Telfer in it, I liked exploring a canon character which wasn't really set in stone. Add in his life-altering moment and he could pretty much become who I wanted. How refreshing.

Either way, here is the first fic I ever started (about four years ago now). I'm hoping that I'll actually get around to finishing it, so some encouragement could really help. (Was that subtle enough? As subtle as a phaser rifle?)

Anywho, hope you like it.

Jace.**  
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><p><strong>Velocity<strong>

_Chapter One_

It was all her fault. My impending doom arrived on Stardate 53753.2. Captain Janeway forced Tal, Harren and I to join her on a mission to examine some sort of spacial nebula filled with dark matter. Naturally I tried to get a sick note from that goddamn annoying holographic doctor but he denied me, the bastard. So off I went and of course out of the four of us, I was the one the creepy wormlike being burrowed itself into. Great. Why couldn't it have chosen to nest in Mortimer? It might have shut that theorising mouth of his for a couple of nanoseconds.

Anyway, a few days later I was relaxing in Holodeck One at Fairhaven, having a beer in one of the pubs. Usually I'm not one to drink but somehow it felt justified after that horrible experience. I was interrupted from my beverage when I heard, "Gerron to Telfer," over my communicator. The nearby holo-characters rolled their eyes, knowing that I was conversing with someone in space. Thank God I wasn't taking a swig or I would have spat it out in shock.

"Telfer here," I acknowledged, surprise still evident in the tone of my voice. What does the Bajoran want with me? I've never really talked with him before.

"Just thought I'd let you know that our match has been scheduled for 2100 hours in Holodeck Two."

Still unsure about what the hell was going on, I rolled with it. "Sure thing."

"See you there, Gerron out," the young man said effectively ending communications.

What the hell? What match? 2100 hours? "Computer, what time is it?"

The cool emotionless female voice rang out, "the time is 1732 hours." So this match or whatever is on in just a few hours.

I shook my head, flinging my dark brown hair about as I tried to clear the cobwebs from my mind. Maybe that creature damaged my short term memory. Or maybe some sort of non-corporeal being possessed me. Or maybe I have a degenerative brain disorder. Or maybe... the theories seemed to get worse and more outlandish with each passing nanosecond. Maybe I'm not as over my sickness phobia problem as I first thought. Well, I wasn't going to break my new resolve of not visiting sickbay unless I actually was dying after only being released this morning.

If anyone on board is up to date with the ship's latest gossip it's Neelix. The little Talaxian seemed to know who's dating who before they do. I quickly decided to pay him a visit, to see if he knew what was going on. I left the rest of my beer sitting on the holographic bar and bid the holo-characters goodbye. My journey to the mess hall seemed to take no time at all because my head was still full of maybes. I strolled up to the counter where I was warmly greeted.

"Good afternoon, Mr Telfer..." he began brightly.

I cut him off knowing that he could continue in this vein for some time, "and the same to you Neelix. What are my options today?"

He proceeded to show me a variety of food in a vast array of colours, ranging from grey to red to fluorescent pink. I selected the one that least offended my eyes and as he ladled out the concoction I asked, "so Neelix, what's been happening on the ship lately?"

His eyes brightened immediately. "You mean besides your away mission with the captain?"

"Yes," I agreed tersely.

"But I would have thought you would have loved to sample some of the excitement?" he thought out loud. Excitement? Nearly being eaten by some dark matter worm thing was exciting? I could have died! The sharp eyed Talaxian seemed to read my thoughts as they flew through my head at warp 9. "I suppose some of us would rather not crave such fun," he acquiesced although it was obvious by his tone that he really couldn't fathom how. "Well, as far as I understand it the only other thing on everyone's mind is the contest."

"Contest?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Haven't you heard? As chief morale officer, to perk up spirits over this uninteresting stretch of space, I suggested to Captain Janeway that maybe we could organise some sort of friendly game to keep everyone's mind's off the long journey," he stated, puffing his chest out with pride. "Tom was the one who suggested that it be a competition and ultimately, it was the captain herself who decided on the sport of Velocity."

"VELOCITY!" I all but shrieked, calling the attention of the few early diners. I instantly lowered my voice. "I hate Velocity," I seethed.

Neelix frowned, offended. "Well it's not like you have to enter, Mr Telfer," he sputtered.

I returned his glare. "Somehow I have a match in three hours."

The Talaxian's frown disappeared only to be replaced with a speculative look. "You had no knowledge of it?"

I shook my head, vacantly staring into his beetle black eyes.

"I wonder who would do such a thing?" he asked aloud.

In that moment, I worked it out. "Tal." It had to be. Only she would know how good I am at the stupid game. Yet, she also knows how much I despise it. That and I know she would have the balls to enter me without my knowledge. Speak of the she-devil I thought to myself as I saw her enter the Mess Hall. "Excuse me, Neelix. Have a pleasant day."

"You too, Mr Telfer."

I kept my sceptical snort to myself. Avoiding my friend as she waved toward me, I ducked to the closest table. Immediately, I could almost feel her usually cheerful smile slipping from her face. It didn't take long for her to grab some sort of inedible nourishment and slide herself next to me. I still refused to look at her.

"Billy..." she calmly began.

"VELOCITY!" I yelled causing her to jump and once again eliciting stares from random crewmembers. "You know how much I hate that stupid game."

"Yes, I do but I really need the rations," the Bajoran lady admitted.

"Rations?" I asked speculatively, finally turning to look at her. The bob-cut framed her face, her eyes looked imploringly at me.

Tal Celes glanced suspiciously around the room before replying. "There's some sort of underground pool going on and I wagered a week's worth of rations on your placing in the top four. Paris gave me excellent odds. If you come through, I'll win almost eight month's worth of rations."

"I can't believe Paris would be stupid enough to risk his rank again, all on some stupid bets. What if Janeway finds out?" I asked, noting that my friend flinched at the name of our captain.

"I think she already knows."

I frowned slightly, "then why is she allowing this to continue?"

Celes lowered her voice even more. "Well, apparently Kyoto has placed three bets and is the betting the most in the pool but one."

My eyes beseeched her to continue.

"Our resident Talaxian," she began, her eyes darting to Neelix, "has made seven bets in total. Each one involves a senior officer. For example over 500 replicator rations for Torres to defeat every male opponent she faces and three month's worth of rations that Janeway makes the final. His betting total exceeds two whole years worth of rations and I can't see him risking that all on his own."

"So you think that Torres backed herself, as did the captain?" I asked, once again seeing my usually chipper friend recoil at the mention of the captain.

"Well, I think so." It seemed to me that it was a reasonable assumption.

"Alright, spill. What's up with looking like you've ingested three bowls of leola root soup every time I mention the captain?"

She deadpanned. "I thought it would be obvious."

I raised my eyebrow and demanded, "Enlighten me."

"Oh Billy, I've never been so afraid before. I know that she was just checking up on Seven's claims that I'm inept, which is pretty much the case." I opened my mouth to refute her claim but she talked over me. "But then you got attacked by that thing and I've never been so terrified. I thought it was going to kill you. She almost took you away from me. Damn her and her stupid mission. I didn't want to lose my best friend." She glared at her plate and negligently pushed the orange paste sitting on it around with her fork.

"Tal," I soothed. "It's alright, we're both fine. There's no need to be bitter, she didn't know about the, well, whatever it was. It's not her fault."

Tal sighed heavily. "Look, I know. It was just the worst feeling seeing you on the bio-bed. Knowing that this was no uninformed self-diagnosis and knowing that you didn't just catch a cold. You could have died. I think it will take a while to forgive her for that. Anyway, back to the task at hand. Will you still go in the tournament? For me?" she fluttered her eyelashes at me. Gods it was playfully irritating.

Sighing, I told her, "I'm due to play in a couple of hours and I've already agreed to it."

The grin on her face was immediate. "I knew you'd help me and I didn't even have to resort to bribery. Still, if I do win all of those rations, I would certainly share them with you."

"You're just lucky that Gerron didn't mention we were playing Velocity or I would have turned around and said no freaking way."

"Gerron? You're playing against Gerron?" she asked quizzically.

By now I had stomached all I could of Neelix's culinary talents, so I rose to me feet. "Yeah, anyway I'm going to try to mentally fortify myself for the challenge."

She glanced up at me. "What time are you on?"

"2100 hours."

"I'll enjoy the show."

Frowning, I asked, "How?"

"Data-stream Epsilon-Phi-8." She gestured to the far wall of the Mess Hall. The screen Kes and Neelix had used to scan the twentieth century news footage was displaying a game of Velocity. It was in full swing with quite a large audience watching. Man I must have been really distracted if I didn't even notice the abundance of chairs and cheering crewmembers the whole time I'd been in the mess hall. "You know," she interrupted my scattered thoughts, "Maybe you should check out Epsilon-Phi-8-2. It outlines the tournament in great vulcanish detail. That way you can get a feel for the set-up of the competition. Know who to psyche yourself up to defeat. Stuff like that."

"Sure thing, Tal. You know, maybe this is a good thing," I thought out loud.

I had the feeling that Tal would have fallen over if she wasn't already sitting down. "WHAT?" she sputtered, drawing looks from the attendees. At least they weren't staring at me this time.

"I really should have gotten back on the horse years ago. Instead I started faking injuries and such just to get out of it. I suppose that's when my sick notes became much more frequent." I had never really thought about it before as I generally avoided thinking about Velocity.

Tal looked like she was having trouble digesting the information. Or perhaps it could have been Neelix's cooking. One could never really tell. I hardly ever spoke so candidly about my past. Maybe that away mission did do more good than harm. I waved goodbye to my friend and stalked off to my quarters to do a little reconnaissance.

- Velocity -

I logged onto the data-stream with all of the rules and regulations. Apparently, there were ninety-six entrants and the computer (being the super-intelligent beast that she is) had devised the easiest and fairest method of competition. The first phase was in a round robin format with groups of six. The top three players of each group would progress. Wasting no time, I found the grid with my pool on it. Gerron, Tuvok, Wildman (thankfully Samantha, I wouldn't have had the heart to beat little Naomi), Telfer, Ayala and Meghan Delaney. My last jewel of information was that I had a week to complete the five matches. They were arranged at the player's convenience and could be played in any order. Scheduled my ass. Apparently Gerron had decided that I'd be a pushover. Well, he's going to find out that I'm not exactly easy.

The computer broke me from my analysis of the tournament with a cold reminder that my game was due to start in half an hour. Thank God I had the foresight to program the alarm or I might have studied right through it. I changed into my old Velocity gear, which took at least ten of my precious minutes to find. The garment was simple in design. A light brown sleeveless shirt and dark brown fitted slacks. I was not going to let loose clothing harm my chances. It had been about ten years since my last round at Starfleet Academy, the reason I left the sport behind. The clothes seemed much more snug than I remembered. I must be completely out of shape.

I had to jog to the turbolift, I would not be forfeiting my first match. Especially not to Gerron. I would rather loose ten-nil than suffer that particular humiliation. Luckily I arrived with a couple of minutes to spare. I nodded to Gerron, who was skulking outside the holodeck, waiting for a match to finish. His dark eyes flashed in return. He must have thought that I had conceded the match. Heh, tough titties. Due to cutting my arrival ultra fine, I only had a couple of minutes to warm up, so I immediately began to stretch. The match would likely hurt enough without running from cold.

As I reached for my left ankle, the holodeck doors opened and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the floor. In retrospect, I really shouldn't have been stretching right in front of the door but alas I had not considered it. I was being crushed by Lieutenant Ayala who had strolled right into me, causing us to tumble to the grey, unwelcome floor. "Whoa," he muttered, winded from the floor, yet he sprang back up to his feet, agile as a cat. Adrenaline. The grin never slipping from his face. I assumed that he had won his round. My hypothesis was proven correct as a disappointed Samantha Wildman meandered toward the turbolift. Ayala extended his hand to help me up with a smile. "Sorry, I didn't see you there."

I really wanted to reply with a cutting 'obviously' but I restrained it. He seemed really happy and I didn't want to spoil his mood. "Oh, it wasn't your fault. Next time I won't stretch in front of the doors." I tentatively smiled back. Like Gerron, I had hardly ever talked to him either. I had generally avoided the ex-maquis crewmembers. They intimidated me. In fact, I do think this was the first time that I had ever seen the tall, well built Lieutenant smile.

"Yeah, that's probably wise," he imparted pseudo seriously.

"Shall we begin," interjected the sullen Bajoran. He must be more than a little peeved that I had showed. A forfeit would have given him a perfect score, something that would have catapulted him into the lead of our group.

"Sure." As I strolled through the holodeck doors, I shook my head, clearing extraneous information and strode into the room. Before the doors swished shut I heard, "Good luck, Billy!" hastily shouted by Ayala. Billy? I didn't even know that he knew who I was, let alone knew my nickname. Most people assume that it's Will. I didn't even get a chance to thank him for his well wishes. Wait a minute, I'm supposed to be focussing on the match. Come on Billy, get your game on. Oh well, here goes nothing.

Drawing my phaser, I advanced into the centre of the room. The computer decided that I would be blue and Gerron red. Fine by me, the colour didn't matter. Some players were superstitious and would believe their chances were improved by a good draw. I noticed that Gerron's face looked even sourer than before. Maybe he's another one of the red equals loss groupies. Whatever.

"Ready," chimed the computer. I entered my stance, a stationary, yet bouncy pose as the disc could appear anywhere. Before I knew what was going on, I heard a phaser blast from behind and immediately rolled to my left, to dodge the unseen projectile. Thankfully it missed and I was able to target the floating disc. Unfortunately, I shot wide by a console length. Great start I thought as I dodged once more. This time my aim was true and the disc sailed back toward Gerron who instantly phasered it causing it to careen straight into my right thigh. Damn.

"Gerron one, Telfer nil," the computer announced the obvious as it was programmed to do. The Bajoran had half a smile on his face, and so he should. It's a great advantage to draw first blood. "Ready," and the next thing I know a shot was fired and I reacted way to slow as the Velocity disc thwacked me in the back of my head. The holodeck lurched and when I refocussed my eyes on my opponent I saw a great, big smile etched on the young man's face. Now I was beyond pissed.

I tried to expel my anger before the next round and only partially succeeded. However, this time I shot the disc first. Going shot for shot, this rally was much longer than the last two, thank the Gods. After many close shaves, I was able to cause the small object to spin into Gerron's left shoulder. His body language changed immediately. The smile had slipped from his face and his eyes gazed at me in speculation. For the first time, he saw that I was not exactly unskilled.

As the game progressed, I could feel my disused abilities starting to reassert themselves into my game. I became faster, able to dodge better and more confident in my play. Before Gerron knew what had hit him, the computer was announcing, "Gerron three, Telfer nine." He looked murderous. No threat my ass! Watch out, Billy is back! "Ready," the computer once again chimed.

I saw the disc and sent it spinning toward Gerron. He artfully dodged it stunning it back toward me. I phasered it, immediately halting it's progress just meters away from my torso but the Bajoran surprised me by shooting it before it could move toward him. He backpedalled, stepping back to his ready position but I surprised him and myself as my body automatically somersaulted over the disc, which reversed it's trajectory. I ducked under it and sent it straight into the stunned Gerron. "Telfer wins ten to three."

I couldn't believe it. I had won my first game in years with an outstanding point. Gerron stalked over to me, his outraged look diminished to be replaced with a disappointed one. "Telfer, well done," he stated as he outstretched his hand. I took the proffered hand in mine and clapped him on the back.

"Thanks, Gerron." I never really knew what to say after a match. We walked to the door and the cold air of the corridor was like a slap in the face. It felt good as it snapped into my lungs and craving some victory food I gestured to the turbolift. "Want to grab some food? My treat."

The young man only took a moment to consider. "Sure, I love to eat after a good workout."

We moved into the turbolift. "Uh, Mess Hall or quarters?" I asked.

"Quarters," he quickly replied. "If we went to the Mess, they'd all just be fawning over you and I won't be able to enjoy my dinner."

I hadn't considered that. "Okay, deck thirteen." The turbolift began to steadily descend. I briefly supposed that I was probably smiling as much as Ayala had.

The Bajoran exhaled sharply, attracting my attention. With a considering look in his eyes, he admitted, "I honestly thought you'd be the easiest to defeat and now I've been completely outmanoeuvred and embarrassed. I suppose I'm out of the competition already."

"What? Why?" I asked genuinely surprised.

"There's no way that I'll be able to beat Ayala, let alone Tuvok." I felt a little bad about his defeatist attitude until he said, " I knew red wouldn't go my way today."

"Bullshit," I spat out venomously.

Gerron started with surprise. "What?" he questioned as the turbolift doors swished open.

We started toward my quarters and I explained my disbelief in superstitions. "Lucky colours are myths. Myths used by those who lose to blame their failure on or those who win to attribute their victory. The sooner you let go of your colour fixation, the quicker your game will improve. We both know that after the first two points you thought it was in the bag. I bet at the time you thought it was a good omen that you had red. Wasn't it?" I asked, trying to get my point across.

Frowning in concentration, he conceded that he'd contemplate my advice before his next match. After a few moments, he started to laugh. "I thought Celes was mad to risk a week's worth of replicator rations on you. Now I think she knows a good bet when she sees one."

I was flattered and I told him so. We reached my quarters and entered, making a beeline straight to the replicator. "What would you like?"

"Umm, how about a Caesar Salad? Minus those annoying anchovies." Gerron licked his lips unconsciously as I strolled to the replicator and extracted two bowls of the food. As we ate, Gerron told me about some of the Velocity games he had played on Voyager."

I went on to describe how I was quite good at Starfleet academy and finished second in the first year tournament.

"Ah, so I had no chance against you because you are a master, with years of experience," he joked.

"Aren't we all?" I asked.

The smile fled his face. "Before Voyager, with the Maquis, there was never much time for fun and our ship didn't even have a holodeck."

My mind screeched to a halt. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't think..."

My apologies were waved away. "It's not your fault."

A long silence stretched in the conversation with only the quiet sounds of cutlery audible.

"Telfer..." began Gerron before I cut him off.

"Call me Billy. That's what my friends call me, anyway."

Gerron smiled. "My friends call me Gerron. So you can too."

"Thanks Gerron," I replied with mock enthusiasm.

"Anyway, you're, um. Well, I suppose, er. Billy, I, ah, just..." He trailed off inexplicably, his eyes now staring into his bowl on the table.

Concerned, I asked, "What is it?"

Now he looked even more nervous. "Y-you're friends with, um, Celes. Aren't you?" he asked in a tremulous voice.

"Yeah, we have been ever since the academy," I confirmed. In the back of my mind I had a strong suspicion that I knew where this conversation was headed. I viciously smothered my smile, knowing that it would only cause the Bajoran discomfort.

"Are you, er, dating her?" he asked barely above a whisper. The look on his face showed that he couldn't believe that he'd blurted this much out.

I now couldn't contain my smile any longer. As soon as Gerron spotted it, he sank even lower into his seat. Taking pity on him, I announced, "No, she's not my type. Plus, we've been friends for way too long."

Gerron released a sharp breath. "Do you think she'd be, er, um..."

Cutting him off before he could embarrass himself further. "Look, Tal's a very direct girl. When she wants something she asks for it. Like yesterday, she strolled up to Seven and asked her for her next three duty shifts off."

His eyes wide, Gerron's mouth nearly hit the table. "She did?" he asked in awe.

"Yes. She was denied of course but she had asked anyway. Look at me, she was the one who entered me into this competition, I only got out of sickbay this morning. If you want to date her," I said as I politely ignored the blush that was steadily rising on Gerron's face. "You'll have to suck up your courage and just ask her."

"That's all?" he asked worriedly, his blush was quickly turning from pink to a light shade of green.

I reached over and clapped him on the shoulder. "You'll be right."

He blinked and looked back at me. "If she entered you into the competition, did you even know what I was talking about when I commed you this afternoon?"

Shaking my head, I replied. "No. I had to find out from Neelix at dinner. Then I found out it was Velocity." My frown managed to confuse my guest.

"But you're good. Would you have played me if you had known about it beforehand?"

"No," I announced without hesitation.

"Why?" he asked, clearly astounded.

My personal demons flashed before my eyes. Gerron had taken a big step in asking about Tal. He had entrusted me with the truth. Shouldn't I afford him the same courtesy? I hadn't even breathed a word to Tal about it. Sucking in a breath, I decided to tell him, despite the fact that I had never really even talked to him before. I only felt fleetingly guilty about not telling Tal first.

"At Starfleet Academy, before I met Tal, I spent most of my time alone. The third unit of Gym turned out to be Velocity. I was so excited, I could finally show the instructors that I wasn't as bad at sports as I appeared. I mean, I'm terrible at Hoverball and our team was the first to lose in Capture the Flag. To say that Lieutenant Chelsea was surprised that I was volunteering to go first was a complete understatement." I broke off and smiled a the memory.

"Well, I kicked five cadet's in a row, including the current top Gym student, Raymond Quested. After the matches as I was leaving for a bite to eat, Ray hailed me down and joined me. He praised my play and we talked for hours. I didn't even notice until I was commed that I had talked through one of my astrophysics lectures. One thing led to another and soon Ray and I were an item."

Gerron blinked in surprise that I'm not as heterosexual as he is but waved for me to continue. I hadn't even thought about admitting I was gay until after I had said it, I was too busy worrying about the ending of my tale. "Well, about three months later I heard that the annual Velocity contest was about to begin so I quickly signed both myself and Ray up. We both progressed from the early rounds to the sixteen draw, the quarter finals and even past the semis until we were the only two left in the competition. We were the finalists. Those who knew of our status found the idea of us squaring off entertaining. I didn't think that the result would in any way affect our relationship." I had to stop for a moment to stave off the tears that were threatening to start raining onto the table. How could this still hurt after a decade?

"Well the night before our match, Ray came to my room and let's just say that it was rough. Hot but rough. Now I had always been the bottom in the relationship and when I woke up the next morning I could barely move. I ached so much. I went to my shelf, looking for my medkit. This wasn't the first time I had been tender after a wild night. When I opened it, it became clear that my dermal regenerator had been removed, along with my painkiller hyposprays. When I made it to the match, barely managing to walk there, Ray didn't even acknowledge my presence. I played so badly, because I was physically and emotionally hurt and got kicked ten-one. He never spoke to me again." The tears were now spilling unchecked down my face.

"Months later, I found out from one of his friends that he still laughed about how easy I was to manipulate so that he would retain the top of Gym class. Apparently Ray had been talking to Boothby, the gardener, at the start of the year and discovered about the Velocity tournament before I or any of our classmates ever did. As soon as he was beaten by me on that first day, he knew I was a potential threat and dealt with me. I've never played Velocity since, until today." I looked up into Gerron's eyes, hoping he wouldn't be sickened by me or my story.

Wordlessly, the Bajoran stood up, circled to where I sat and gave me a huge hug. I collapsed into his embrace both surprised, ashamed, happy, sad and completely emotionally confused. I cried. A lot. After the storm was over and I had recovered some of my wits, Gerron thanked me for telling him. He fucking well thanked me. I still don't understand why. Our talk then returned to happier stuff, like ship gossip and I passed on a few ideas of things Tal might like. When Gerron actually left, almost five hours after the match had finished, I discovered that I had made a new strong friendship.


	2. Chapter 2

Hiya - Here's the next chapter. Hope you're enjoying it. (Even if you're not - I'm still gonna keep going anyway!)

Cheers, Jace.**  
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><p><strong>Velocity<strong>

_Chapter Two_

I woke the next morning feeling exhausted but somehow refreshed. I had never told a soul about what happened at the academy and I felt like a weight had been taken off my shoulders. Add that to my physical discomfort (I hadn't had a workout like that in years and I'm hurting like hell) and I wasn't really prepared to work. A quick sonic shower left me feeling much better about myself and I dressed, and headed to the Mess Hall. I took quite a while to get there as nearly every crewmember I ran into seemed to want to congratulate me. Not that I really minded but I was ravenous. I also wanted to really talk to Tal but I had been unable to reach her.

The reason for her absence became abundantly clear in the Mess Hall, where I spotted her playing Velocity against Seven of Nine. Oh my God. I didn't even know that Tal Celes knew the rules of the game, let alone that she was in the competition. I gathered some of Neelix's better than coffee supplement and took a plate of something that wasn't made from leola root and sat down to watch. It wasn't pretty and the girls fought hard. In the end, Tal lost but it had been entertaining. As they went to shake hands, it was clear that Tal had made Seven work for her victory. The ex-borg's hair had come loose from her usual bun.

"Celes," she stated with her ice cold tone, audible through the comm system. "If you applied this much effort and concentration to your work, you would be an exemplary officer."

It was a really backhanded compliment, but that was the highest praise Tal had ever gained from the borg. "Thank you, Seven."

The borg's ocular implant rose. "Perhaps sometime we could schedule a rematch?"

"Sure, we can sort out a time during my next duty shift," Tal acquiesced.

"That would be an inefficient use of our time," decided Seven.

Tal actually snorted in laughter. "Seven, I thought multi-tasking was more efficient."

"Perhaps."

I had to chuckle along with the other crewmembers who were also watching. A quick glance to the corner of the screen caused me to swear. I was already a few minutes late to my own duty shift. With Torres. Dumping the majority of my food as I had been too busy watching and not eating (unlike the ladies, apparently I was no good at multi-tasking) I dashed to the nearest turbolift. As I willed the turbolift to go faster, I hoped that B'Elanna Torres was in a good mood or I could be realigning power conduits by hand for the next week. Or month. Or year.

As soon as the turbolift opened, I marched directly to my console as fast as common courtesy would allow. Before I made it I heard a bellowed, "Crewman Telfer!" Knowing that it was B'Elanna, I looked despondently towards her and I hoped against hope that her wrinkled Klingon forehead wasn't more wrinkled in anger than usual. Mind you, usual is still pretty bad.

"Yes, Lieutenant," I replied smartly, trying to ignore the stares from the others on my duty shift.

"What time does your duty shift begin, Crewman?" she intoned dangerously.

"0800 hours," I chanted, barely even thinking.

Torres looked upwards as she asked, "Computer, time."

The annoying female voice of the computer chirped, "The time is 0814 hours."

The right corner of the Chief Engineer's mouth quirked upward slightly, the glint in her eyes horrid. "And what would have happened if the plasma manifolds had ruptured about ten minutes ago whilst you were not here?"

I shrugged, there was really no answer that would be acceptable. "The Chief Engineer would have crossed from that console," I pointed to her usual station, "to this one," I pointed to mine, "and would have salvaged the situation."

"Crewman, flattery will get you nowhere," she informed me. That much was already obvious, flattery and Klingon are mutually exclusive terms.

Evenly meeting her gaze, I told her, "I'm not using flattery. We both know full well that if I were here, working, and the plasma manifolds had ruptured, I would have been ordered aside anyway."

"True, resume your post," her Klingon features distorted and I realised that she was smiling at me. That's two people in two days that I've now seen smile for the first time, well at me anyway.

"Yes, ma'am," I articulated before moving to my station.

The shift progressed quite swiftly as I worked diligently at my station. I reached the end of my reports and was about to log off, when I noticed that I still had over two hours of my shift left. What? I quickly double checked that I had indeed completed everything I was supposed to. Yes, I had in fact done eight hours of work in six. Well less than six if my late start is taken into account. What the hell should I do now? Making my decision, I moved toward my superior officer.

Before I had reached her, she asked me what I needed help with.

"Well, actually Lieutenant, I've already finished and I don't really know what I should do." Great, look like an ass in front of your boss, Billy.

She blinked in surprise before moving to my console, performing the same checks that I had. "It seems you have, Telfer. Come help me with my diagnostic on the new upgrades to the sensor array." We returned to her console and she showed me what to look for as the information swept through the filter.

"There's something different about you Billy," she remarked as we both watched the diagnostic screen, in the closest voice to compassion I had ever heard her use. Now somebody else knew that I preferred Billy to Will, who was leaking all of this information about me? "I don't know if it was the away mission or the amazing match of Velocity you played yesterday."

"You saw that?" I asked, mortified.

"Oh, yes. I didn't know you could somersault."

"I didn't know that I still could. It's been years since I played."

"I'd look out for Kyoto if I were you," she suggested quietly to ensure that no one would overhear the conversation.

"Why?" I asked, genuinely surprised, we usually got on rather well.

"She bet a month's worth of rations that she'd be the first player to somersault on a match-winning point."

"Oh." I remembered what Tal had told me and lowered my voice even more as I asked, "Is it true that Neelix placed his bet that you'll beat every male opponent you face on your behalf?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I'll only answer your question if you answer one of mine."

"Sure," I nodded.

"Is it true that after your match, you hooked up with Gerron?"

I frowned. "No, but we did have dinner, as friends."

B'Elanna grinned, which in itself is a scary prospect. "I heard that he was there for at least five hours. Add that to your lateness and I thought that maybe there was some hot sex."

My mouth dropped open in genuine shock. She was just as forthright as Tal. "No," I stammered as I tried to reinitialise my brain. "Actually, he was asking about my friend, Celes, and whether she might be interested in him."

"And..." she asked, letting the sentence trail off, her left eyebrow reaching uncharted heights.

"Well, we'll find out soon enough. I told him to ask her upfront, she'll probably comm me as soon as he does."

"I suppose it's a good match. They both have wrinkly noses."

"So do you," I pointed out. In return I suffered from a swat at my arm, which would most likely bruise. At first I thought she was angry but it seemed to be a friendly gesture. "Anyway. It's your turn to spill..." but before I could finish my sentence, an algorithm we were looking for splashed on screen and we spent the next half an hour working on repairing the corrupted data. After a gruelling duel with the encryption matrix, the duo emerged victorious. Unfortunately, I was slapped on the back. At this rate I was probably going to end up looking like I'd stolen a thousand credits from a group of Ferengi and got caught.

"Just so you know, I did back myself and when we're not on duty, call me B'Elanna."

Her admission surprised me. "Sure thing Lieutenant," I smiled.

"B'Elanna," she corrected.

I still had about an hour left of my shift. "But you said..."

"You've finished your work and helped out with mine. Plus your conversation has been most entertaining. Your shift is now over, my treat. It's just a shame about Gerron. The look on his face was priceless when you flipped over the disc. I thought you would make one seriously hot couple." I started to sputter indignantly but she started to laugh.

Eventually I managed, "I don't know what your fascination is with my sex life..."

She grinned evilly at me and cut off my sentence. "Yesterday, I found out that Tom used to sleep with Gregor before we were an item. For some reason, I found the imagery very exciting. After hearing the rumour that you may have screwed the young Bajoran stud, I just had to know the truth. That and out of my entire engineering crew, you're the only one I can think of that hasn't had some sort of fling since we got stuck in the Delta Quadrant. Have you?"

I didn't even pause. "No. I haven't done anything since I was in Starfleet academy." Since Ray, I haven't had sex with anyone. It was my shame. I hadn't noticed that it's been a decade. Really, it's time to try the relationship thing again.

"WHAT?" she shrieked, drawing the attention of most of the nearby crewmembers. She turned her attention on them and vented loudly. "What the hell are you all staring at? Get back to work." When she had calmed down, she turned back to me and asked, "You're joking right?"

I just shook my head.

"How have..." the Klingon began before she was interrupted.

"Celes to Telfer," came Tal's excited voice over the comm.

"Telfer here," I responded after tapping my comm badge.

"Holy fucking Prophets!" she squealed. "You wont believe what just happened!"

"What?" I asked although I had a pretty good idea.

"I was just asked out! By Gerron! I can't believe it. I thought he was joking at first but he had said it in front of the whole Mess Hall. Neelix even dropped his pot of leola root salad. HOLY MOTHER FUCKING PROPHETS!"

I cut over her screaming before I burst an eardrum. "Well? What did you say?"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I SAID 'HELL YEAH!'"

I breathed a sigh of relief. "That's great Tal, but I'm still on shift and now Lieutenant Torres and probably half of Engineering now knows about it." One quick glance around the room verified my claim.

"SHIT. Celes out."

There was a deafening silence after Tal had broken communication. After a moment, Torres bellowed, "Why is it that whenever something out of the ordinary happens, productivity ceases?" The void of silence was broken by a flurry of bleeps from various consoles. Her voice lowered to a whisper. "It looks like your advice worked out. Now take some of mine. Six years is way too long for anyone to go without sex. Find some."

I smiled weakly, "I'll take it under advisement."

"Don't force me to make it an order."

"Yes, Ma'am," my smile broadened to a full grin.

"Dismissed."

I moved away from Torres and filed out of the door. My head felt like it was going to explode. In the last two days, I had played Velocity, made two new friends, set up my best friend, was late to a duty shift, announced my homosexuality to someone I hardly know, finished my work early, spilled the beans on my current and previous sex life and had basically been ordered to have sex. Holy shit.

- Velocity -

After I had finished chatting to Tal in her quarters about how Gerron had asked her out, I spent just as long in Gerron's quarters listening to his side of the story, whilst getting praised to the roof for my advice. I thought it was actually quite funny how I got both sides. It was like seeing the slice of bread with jam on one side's perspective and seeing the slice with peanut butter's viewpoint after it became a sandwich. Anyway, our conversation was brought to a halt as I received an offer to play Megan Delaney in a few hours, which I readily accepted.

As I closed the connection, I heard Gerron open one to Tal. "Gerron to Celes."

"Celes here," she breathed over the comm system.

"Billy's going to play another match of Velocity in a few hours, do you want to go watch it in the Mess Hall with me?" He asked the question without a hint of embarrassment. It was amazing how quickly a person could adapt.

"Sure thing," she purred. "When is he due to start?"

"At 1930 hours."

"I'll meet you there, Celes out." Before we could say anything, my communicator went off. "Celes to Telfer." She sounded very angry.

I could barely restrain a chuckle. She was clearly pissed that she'd found out about my match from Gerron and not from me. "Telfer here."

"William Arnold Telfer. You have a match and you didn't tell me?" she all but shrieked.

I cringed despite myself. It was never pleasant when Tal used my whole name. Sometimes I regret having told her at all. Gerron was collapsing in silent giggles to the side. "For starters, you never told me about your match with Seven this morning and, well, I only just found out about it!" I defended myself.

"Well I knew that you'd be sleeping or just waking... Wait a nanosecond. How would Gerron know about your match? GERRON? Are you there?" Tal demanded.

"Yeah. Megan Delaney only just hung up on him when I buzzed you, so it's not really his fault."

There was a small pause. "What are you two doing there together?" her voice was suspicious.

I looked at Gerron with wide eyes, I had no idea how to respond. Thankfully, Gerron answered the question. "Yesterday, I asked Billy's advice on how to ask you out after our match. I'd say his advice was rather helpful, wouldn't you?"

"I suppose it was... Hold up. BILLY!" she shrieked again. "YOU KNEW! You knew when I commed you this morning and when I told you this afternoon."

"Er, yeah. I did." I squirmed uncomfortably, in the chair I had appropriated in Gerron's quarters. Even from a distance, an angry Tal was never a good thing.

"You'd better win your match or I'll be REALLY pissed at you. Celes out."

- Velocity -

Megan Delaney looked stunning in her velocity gear. Even I could say that, and my knowledge on the subject was unreliable at best. The jet black cat suit clung to her body like a second skin. A second skin that highlighted her lean build and every curve. She smiled widely as I met her out front of the holodeck. "Hey," she greeted cheerfully.

"Hey Megan," I chanted back. Whilst we haven't been the best of buddies, I had spent a few evenings in Sandrine's with the twins. "How's Jenny going these days?"

Megan lowered her voice dramatically. "She's been in the most foul mood, lately. I'm afraid that she hates losing and that's all that's happened to her in the competition so far. Three losses in all. I told her not to get her hopes high, she's in a tough group. Well, so am I but I signed up for fun's sake, not to win." Her eyes were glittering.

"Who's she lost to?" I asked, hoping it wouldn't annoy Megan.

"Jenkins ten-eight, Seven ten-two and your friend Celes ten-three. Didn't she tell you?"

My mouth thinned a little, "No."

"Wasn't she great against Seven?"

"I don't know, I didn't see Jenny play her."

Megan glared at me, "Not Jenny, Tal. Losing ten-eight to an ex-borg is nothing to be ashamed of."

"Yeah, I was late to my shift in Engineering because of it. I was too busy watching and not eating."

"What did B'Elanna do to you?" she asked, horrified.

I glanced at her eyes. "Nothing. She must have been in a good mood or something." My mind flitted back to her words. _Yesterday, I found out that Tom used to sleep with Gregor before we were an item. For some reason I found the imagery very exciting. _Well, no surprise there. She was probably all hot and bothered by the man sex pictures in her head. Me and Gerron? Not bloody likely. He's nice enough but I like my men a little more built, rippling muscles, gorgeous eyes, a body to melt into. I shook my head to clear it before I fantasised my match away.

This time I started stretching next to the wall and was not knocked off balance when a pair emerged from the holodeck. To my shock it was Chell and the Captain. The blue man sped off toward the turbolift leaving the captain to talk to us alone. The smirk on her face displaying her prowess of the sport of Velocity.

"Captain," we both chanted together as our postures straightened in the usual form of courtesy.

"At ease," she nasally commanded. Her eyes alight with glee moved in my direction. "Mr. Telfer. I didn't know that you played Velocity. I thought sport wouldn't be your penchant."

"It usually wouldn't be," I admitted to my superior.

"It's good to see you trying some new things," she decided, as she turned toward the turbolift.

When the captain had left, Megan turned to me and demanded, "Why didn't you tell her how well you played in your previous match?" Her hands were on her hips and there was a frown on her brow.

I shrugged. "It didn't seem that important. The captain is one of the best Velocity players on the ship. I doubt she would take any interest in my performance unless we were playing each other, which is unlikely."

Megan waved my comment away, a smile now graced her lips. "Are we ready to go?"

Smiling in return, I agreed and gestured for her to lead the way.

Her grin deepened. "You were always a gentleman, Billy." She strolled to the doorway. I followed her into the holodeck as I decided that I no longer cared about whoever leaked my nickname. It seems that everyone knows.

We made our way to the ready area and once again the computer selected me to be red. Meh. We were off. As opposed to Gerron's match, Megan was much more agile and played a much more difficult game. While she lacked the aim of Gerron, she was able to avoid the disc's advance better. Megan also held the determination to chase the disc wherever she needed to. Once she dived under my legs and shot the disc right in front of my face, causing it to whack me just above my right eyebrow. Goddamn it hurt.

However, her valiant attempt was not enough to beat me. Ten-five was the final score but I felt even more proud after this bout. I worked much harder to secure victory.

When we went to shake hands, her face was beaming with delight. "That was great fun, Billy!" she exclaimed. I had never seen such a happy loser before.

I took her hand and gave it a firm shake. "We'll have to do this again sometime," I suggested.

"You bet your ass we do!" her mood was very contagious and we laughed ourselves out of the holodeck. "Want some food from the Mess Hall? That's where I'm headed," Megan announced.

"Sounds good."

We chatted merrily all the way to Neelix's counter. Adrenaline was still coursing through my veins so I adventurously tried something that looked like, well, feet. The item actually tasted better than the fluorescent green gloop on Megan's plate. She agreed that I had indeed made a better selection than her. Throughout our meal, we had many visitors chatting to us about the match. Over the past few days, I've never felt so attached to the rest of the crew. I made a point of telling Neelix exactly how delicious his dish was.

"Your welcome, Mr Telfer and might I say, you seem much happier these past few days," his eyes were crinkled into a similar grin to the one on his lips.

"I feel much happier," I agreed.

"That's wonderful," the Talaxian burbled happily. A pot began rattling and some thick purple smoke began to waft from under its lid. It looked positively awful. I quickly meandered away from the area and over to the open data-stream where Tal and Gerron were sitting, Megan following along.

"That was one amazing match, you two!" complimented Tal as she beamed in our direction.

"Sit yourselves down, we're in for a treat!" announced Gerron.

I raised my eyebrow. "If you're both gonna make out, I'd rather not be watching." Megan began laughing as Gerron started to blush. Tal just raised an eyebrow before grabbing her new boyfriend by the back of his head and kissing him for all she was worth. The twin's laughter stopped abruptly as her jaw hit the deck. The kiss lasted for quite a while.

When the pair broke apart, Tal was flaunting her smile as Gerron tried to catch his breath. "I though you said that you'd rather not be watching? I don't think you looked away once. Not even for a nanosecond."

"It was like a warp core breach. No matter how hard you try, you just can't look away," I defended. I was used to Tal's tactics and whilst she had caught me off guard I easily countered her argument.

"I doubt you could really compare my beauty and passion to that of something as foul and disgusting as a warp core breach," she reasoned.

"No," I immediately responded with a smirk. "I think those particular qualities of yours are much more comparable to Species 8472."

"You monster!" she screeched with mock horror. Her head turned in Megan's direction. "I suggest that you close your mouth, Meg. Billy might just swoop in on you!"

With a horrified expression, Megan followed Tal's advice, blushing because she needed to be reminded. She had clearly been surprised by Tal's unexpected action and the banter between the two of us. I glanced at Gerron and he returned it and instantly we were in complete fits of laughter. Megan was still shocked but Tal's brow was wrinkled (well, more so than usual) in confusion. I nodded toward Gerron. "Tal, he's gay!" he chuckled with unrestrained amusement. To our great delight, Tal toppled from her chair in surprise and landed hard on the mess hall floor. Megan didn't even move a micron. I suspected that she was on sensory overload.

In an act of chivalry, Gerron helped Tal to her chair. She rubbed a spot on her rear, causing me to continue giggling. Our antics, however, were starting to attract attention so I tried to tone down my enjoyment. "How is it that in the last eight years you've never told me that?" she asked me. I just shrugged my shoulders in response. She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, as we were saying before, we're in for a treat. Harry Kim and B'Elanna Torres are due to play in the next match. It should be great to watch."

"Who do you think will win?" asked Megan, trying to inject herself back into the conversation.

"Harry," decided Tal.

I just shook my head. "It'll be B'Elanna for sure. I've seen her temper in engineering. There's no way she'll lose to Harry."

Gerron sided with me. "I've seen her decimate aliens with her bare hands when we were in the Maquis, she'll win."

Blushing a little, Megan chose Kim. I got the impression that she liked him a lot. We discussed the two senior officers as more people poured into the seats in the mess hall with an air of anticipation. Nearly every seat was filled when the pair entered the holodeck and some impromptu cheers sounded from the crowd. Oblivious to the noise, the two settled into their ready poses before leaping into action only moments later.

Kim won the first two points before B'Elanna caught him up and surged ahead to five-three. Unfortunately Harry Kim only scored one point before he was outclassed and outmanoeuvred by Voyager's Chief Engineer. The match seemed to be an anticlimax and Tal swore. "I really thought that match would be more entertaining than that."

We all agreed with her. Since no one was in a rush we decided to watch a couple more matches over a few synthesised beverages. The next game was very boring. Kyoto annihilated one of the lower level gamma shift girls ten-one. Despite the crushing victory, Kyoto seemed disappointed. "I heard," noted Megan in a soft voice, "that she bet on beating one person flawlessly. If she had won ten-nil, she would be rolling in replicator rations"

Gerron responded, "I suppose the only person who was interested in that match was probably Paris. I bet he wouldn't have wanted to lose them."

We all quietly agreed. I sipped my drink and almost spat it out in surprise as Tuvok entered the viewscreen. Obviously this match hadn't been widely publicised or I would have made sure that I would see it. His opponent was none other than Ayala, the best security officer on the ship second only to the Lieutenant Commander himself. Apparently Tuvok wanted his style of play to be kept hidden from his competitors. What a very Vulcan thing to do. Gerron, Megan and I payed particular attention to his stance and mode of play but against my will, I found my attention wondering to Ayala. I rarely saw him around the ship as he was on a different shift to me. Plus he was a bridge officer who occasionally was forced to secure the brig, neither are close to Engineering. He was exceeding good at this game and I noticed that he was also quite easy on the eyes.

The match progressed slowly as everyone watching the data-stream witnessed a thrilling game. Every point was tightly contested and one of the rallies lasted over five minutes with neither combatant conceding until the disc managed to clip Tuvok's pointed ear. In fact, the pair were tied at nine apiece and the game was put into sudden death mode. Whoever won the next point would be the victor. After a gruelling three minute rally, Tuvok managed to avoid the pelting disc and knocked it with his phaser into Ayala's chest. We applauded with the rest of the onlookers in the Mess Hall at the display of skill we'd just witnessed.

Suddenly, my safe passage to the next round was thrown into doubt. So I've won two games, big deal. Tuvok and Ayala are both probably assured to make the next round leaving only one last place up for grabs. I need to beat Samantha Wildman and the biggest threat to my position was Megan. In a game, I know that Megan would probably easily defeat Gerron and she could possibly beat Ayala, perhaps even Tuvok. If I crumble against the security officers without a victory over Sam, I'm down for the count.

I unwillingly looked toward Megan and she quickly glanced away. We both knew what was at stake. She cleared her throat, causing the others to look at her. "I'm just glad that we've already finished our match. If I'd seen that before we'd played, I certainly wouldn't have enjoyed our game that much." She grinned gently in my direction which I returned. The smile slid from her face as she scowled at me. "I even used my super weapon against you but it didn't work."

"Super weapon?" I had to ask. "I thought that shooting from between my legs into my face was pretty darn skilful."

Tal collapsed into hysterics which caused the rest of us to view my words in a different light. The others soon followed suit as I blushed like a fool. When Meg had recovered, she continued even though she kept giggling. "I was referring to this," she gestured to her shapely cat suit. "It has never failed me before until today but at least now I know why. I thought for a moment that I was losing my touch."

"Not at all," I reassured. "Even I noticed how damn good you looked in it before we started to play and that's saying something."

Megan decided to stand up and pose for our benefit. I'd never seen her so uninhibited before. Perhaps it was the drinks, or maybe because she was away from her twin. It was good to see her enjoying herself. "Anyway, I need to visit my sonic shower before I drop off to sleep," Megan decided before bidding us goodbye. I figured that she had a good idea going so I excused myself and left for my quarters.


	3. Chapter 3

It's taken a while but here it is, Chapter Three!

Hope you like it, Jace.

* * *

><p><strong>Velocity<strong>

_Chapter Three_

Very little occurred over the next couple of days. Only three things changed. To B'Elanna's delight, the first difference was a vast improvement in completing my engineering work. Secondly, I was still yet to visit sickbay and I wondered how the Doc was faring in my absence. The last was that I seemed to be noticing just how ridiculously good-looking the male crewmembers of Voyager really were. It was as if a switch had been flipped in my mind. I never truly realised that there always seemed to be some kind of hottie walking around until now. Maybe B'Elanna's right. I need to find me a fling. Unfortunately, I've been out of the gossip loop for a very long time. That's if I was ever really in there to start with so I don't know who's with who or who's on the market. Well, I've been patient for a decade, a few days more spent making an informed decision would be preferable to making an ass of myself by asking out a straight man or one that's already taken.

I still have four days to finish my three matches. So I decided to employ a tactic I haven't had to use for many years. "Telfer to Tuvok," I stated clearly after I'd slapped my communicator.

"Tuvok here," came the immediate reply which never sounded hasty but rather well planned. Damn Vulcans.

Having only conversed with the Lieutenant Commander on a few occasions I really had no idea how to approach the conversation I needed to have. In the end I decided that the less hyperbole I used, the better. "Are you available for a match around 1300 hours?" I hoped my voice didn't quaver.

"Unfortunately, no," came the emotionless reply. "However, I could entertain a match at 1530 hours if that is agreeable to you."

"That will be fine. I shall schedule us in immediately. Telfer out." I collapsed into my chair to recover from talking to the Vulcan. Despite the shortness of the conversation, I always feel intimidated and unsettled whenever I (oh so very rarely) talk to him. A few commands to the computer console in front of me had us booked in. After a quick com to Tal (I certainly wanted to let her know first) and Gerron, I set about preparing myself to lose.

It was highly unlikely that I would be able to best him. Of course I could get lucky. One of the few things my father taught me before he was killed aboard the Scorpio was to fight the battles you can win first, fight your doomed battles second and those that are left over last. That way you have already tasted victory before defeat and you're even more hungry to win those that could go either way.

Predictably, the Vulcan exited the turbolift at precisely 1530 hours and moved toward me. I'd only just started my warm-up routine out front of the holodeck - not the doors though, I do learn from some of my mistakes.

"Crewman Telfer," Tuvok intoned in his emotionless voice. A slight nod of his head was the only visible sign of body language on the Vulcan.

"Lieutenant Commander," I formally replied. Talking to members of his species always seemed easier when I used more formal sentences. "Have you had a pleasant day?"

"It has been rather agreeable for the most part but the Captain has been a little..." he stalled for a moment, collecting his no doubt well-ordered thoughts. "Vexing."

"Really?" I asked in surprise.

If it were at all possible, the Vulcan deadpanned even more. "Indeed." Tuvok did not elaborate.

The holodeck doors opened and we entered after the previous occupants had left. My aim for this match was to lose with no less than five points. Unfortunately, I was to be completely disappointed. I was annihilated ten-three. My only comforts were that I hadn't lost with no points at all and that I was facing the chief security officer of our starship so if anyone should be skilled at this game, it'd be him.

"That was an adequate performance, Crewman Telfer. You certainly have exceeded my expectations. I did not anticipate any resistance from you." The Vulcan eyed me evenly and I forced myself not to squirm under his unintentionally intense scrutiny.

I didn't know whether I should be pleased that Tuvok was impressed or disappointed that he had such low expectations when it came to me. "Thank you, Sir," I intoned as I followed him from the holodeck. The Lieutenant Commander excused himself and I made my way to the mess hall where Tal commiserated with me over my loss. It was to be expected but I did feel I could have played much better against him. Damn I hate this feeling.

We sat around at the table in the mess hall that we dubbed our own, like we had after virtually every shift in recent times and got to watch Gerron get smashed by Ayala. Ten-One. Ouch. The dark haired ex-Maquis sullenly trod into the mess behind the once again radiant Ayala, who ordered something which looked suspiciously like a bowl of Klingon blood. Ugh. Gerron had selected some lurid green paste with some sort of purple beans mixed into it and he moodily plonked next to his girlfriend who used everything in her capacity to distract the brooding man.

Before I could even greet him, I was distracted as Ayala sat next to me and flashed me his dazzlingly white set of teeth. The combination of nice smile and nasty food (which smelt so putrid that I was certain it would be enough to stop a borg in its tracks) set me more off balance than I would usually be. "Hey Billy," he smiled. "How are you today?"

I was contemplating my answer and whether I should speak the truth or put together a lie or two when Tal snarked, "What are you doing at our table, Muscles?"

Ayala turned his attention to my friend who stared him down as only she could. "I was invited by Gerron." The security officer gestured at Gerron who looked rather sullen about it all.

Gerron was saved from making any sort of reply as Megan made an abrupt appearance at the table and slammed down her tray next to me so forcefully that it clanged exceptionally loudly and sprayed the table with more of the revolting Klingon blood-like soup stuff. Thankfully, I managed to not lose the small amount of food I had managed to consume at that point. "If she even thinks about talking to me, I'm going to lock her up in Neelix's store cupboard and slowly feed pieces of her to the crew for the rest of our voyage."

Everyone at the table stared at the angry woman with varying looks of surprise. It was Tal (naturally) who recovered from shock the fastest. "Who's got your panties in a bunch?"

"Jenny. Just because she was born mere microseconds before me, she thinks she can rule my whole goddam life." The usually cheerful Delaney sister seethed as she angrily slurped down half of her meal. Giving up any pretence of eating my meal, I pushed the bowl away in disgust with a barely concealed shudder. The stench on both sides of me was overpowering and that coupled with my crushing defeat earlier sapped my will to eat.

"Not hungry?" Ayala casually inquired as he polished off another spoonful of soup.

I sighed. "Not anymore."

Ayala laughed in response. He looked around the table before his eyes settled on Tal. "Why's Billy so upset today? He sick or something?"

Tal snorted. "Yeah, he's allergic to Tuvok. He got spanked ten-three and he's sulking."

"Does he sulk often?" Ayala asked her with a chuckle.

I was so busy getting offended that I paid little attention to the arm he casually draped around me. "No I don't," I glared at him.

"Yes, he does," argued Tal cheerfully from her side of the table.

"TAL!" I shrieked at the betrayal.

She just smirked at me. "Payback's a bitch, Telfer."

I scowled at my friend, who just laughed and turned her attention to Gerron. Folding my arms, I rested them on the table and hunched forward with a pout. I started thinking about the stupid match with Tuvok all over again and was thinking about some of the dense mistakes I'd made. If only I'd noticed how much he favoured his right leg, I mightn't have lost so...

"I told you he's sulking," announced Tal, penetrating my thoughts and bringing me back to the present. The whole table was staring at me, even Megan who had apparently lightened up a little while I was thinking. Oops.

"Whatever," I snarked. Damn I hate it when I'm caught completely off guard. None of my comebacks are any good.

"Oh come on, Billy. Cheer up," suggested Megan and as much as it annoyed me, her sincere concern was too powerful to ignore.

"Okay," I relented. Thus I tried to contribute to the conversation without sounding too jaded. It took a lot of control but eventually I managed it. It was odd, our little group. Only mere days before it was just Tal and I. Now Megan and Gerron seemed to be a permanent part of it and somehow, Ayala naturally managed to fit in too. I wondered if he might become another regular of our little group and I was surprised that somewhere inside, I hoped he would. A hand waved in front of my face, once again bringing me back to the present.

"Hello? Voyager to Telfer? You there?" asked Ayala. When I finally blinked and looked his way, the security officer smiled. "Oh, so you are conscious! I was about to comm the doc and have you beamed directly to sickbay," he joked.

I weakly smiled back. "I'm fine. I was just thinking, we still have to play a match. Maybe we should knock that over this afternoon." It was less of a suggestion and more of a question.

Ayala smiled. I decided his sparkling teeth should be banned. They made it difficult for me to concentrate on his response. "Sure, sounds good. How about at 1800 hours?"

"Okay." I looked down at my plate of revolting green paste forlornly. If I was to stand any chance of besting the man, I needed sustenance.

"I'll just log us in, one moment." Ayala stood up and walked off to one of the communal workstations near the viewing screen. I started gulping down the paste which tasted surprisingly better cold than it did warm.

"Really, Billy," remarked Tal, causing me to halt my feeding session and stare at her.

"What?" I asked around my mouthful of paste.

Celes stared at me with both pity and amusement for a while as I returned her stare equally. She rolled her eyes. "If you're really that stupid, I'm not going to help you."

My eyebrows furrowed. "Okay?" I half-questioned, half-shrugged off. I turned my attention back to my food and devoured the rest.

Soon Ayala was back next to me and he looked at the empty plate in surprise. "Done already?" he inquired.

"Yeah, it tasted so much better cold," I smiled at him.

"There he is!" I heard B'Elanna yelling from behind and I was surprised to see her coming toward me. By her side was the ever-faithful Harry Kim. When she reached our table, my superior thumped me painfully on the shoulder. "I was just telling Harry here about how much you've changed in the last few days."

"Oh," I replied since I wasn't really sure that one was necessary, or if one was, I didn't know what to say in response.

Harry smiled at me. "B'Elanna was just telling me about how much your performance in engineering had improved lately." His eyes flickered around the table before settling on Megan. "Damn," he muttered with a frown.

Megan bristled at the comment. "What do you mean, 'Damn'?"

Shaking his head, Harry's expression became apologetic. "Sorry, Megan, I didn't mean anything by it. It's good you're dating him."

"What?" thought Megan aloud at the same time that Tal shrieked, "Really? Who?" Gerron, Ayala and I all looked on in confusion. Well Gerron looked on in confusion until Tal jumped to her feet and accidentally knocked him over as she sprinted to Megan's side. Then he glared at his girlfriend over the table from the floor.

B'Elanna started laughing. Hard. "Wait, wait," she gasped. "You think Billy's going out with Megan?"

Harry now looked confused. "Um, yeah. I'd gone for Kyoto but I..." he was cut off at the mirthful laughter of Tal, Gerron (who was still on the floor) and Megan which joined seamlessly with B'Elanna's who had restarted when the others began.

"Harry," gasped B'Elanna as she grabbed onto him to stop herself falling onto the ground. "He's totally gay!"

"Really?" asked Harry and Ayala at the same time, with differing levels of surprise.

"Yeah," answered Megan, who had started to calm down. "Anyway, I'm single at the moment."

The thoughts in my head were grinding. "So am I," I included for Harry's benefit. "What did you mean by 'You'd gone for Kyoto'?"

Harry paled a little and everyone stared at him with confusion. It was an odd comment to make. "I, er..." Harry petered out.

Shit. "It's Tom frickin Paris, isn't it?" I snarked murderously.

"Hey that's my husband..." began Torres before I cut her off.

"He's running a pool on it, isn't he?" It was more of a rhetorical question but Harry supplied an answer anyway.

"Well, yes."

There was a silence in his wake. B'Elanna looked more furious than I probably did. "I'll gut him. I made him swear that he'd never run a pool again..." She started ranting under her breath but Harry got her attention.

"This one's been going on since our third year out here." He stopped trying to help out his friend at the withering glare she sent him.

"Wait," I interrupted their staring contest. "You mean you've all been betting on who I'd date for almost four years?"

"No, it was more who you'd fu..." began Harry before he realised he wasn't doing himself any favours. He slapped a hand over his mouth but it was too late. The damage was done.

There was another deafening silence. Megan and Tal were glaring daggers at the ensign. B'Elanna looked like she was ready to gut her friend and husband herself.

"I'll kill him," I raged and I stood up from the table, causing the two senior officers to take a step back (Harry in fear and B'Elanna in surprise).

A warm hand on my shoulder was all that stopped me from tearing off after the man in question. "As a security officer on this vessel, I can't let you murder anyone Billy," soothed Ayala. "Plus, save that energy for the court. You're going to need it."

That cocky bastard! I whirled around and pointed a finger at his chest. "Don't try to be reasonable with me, Ayala. I'm not in the mood. If you continue to annoy me, my aim in the game may slip and zapping you would be worth the penalty points against me."

Ayala's eyebrows raised in surprise. I looked around the table. Only Tal seemed unsurprised by my little rant. I'd said much worse things to her over trivial things before. She always knew how to calm me down. "Get over it Princess," she shrugged, causing my rage to soar. What was I thinking before? I stormed out of the room, random crewmembers scrambling out of my way.

When I reached my quarters, I started to calm down and I could finally appreciate just how much Tal was my friend. She knew I was in a rage. She knew I would have worked myself up to such a state that I would have punched someone. She knew that the someone would be whoever tried to calm me down, in this case it would have been Ayala. So, she tipped me over the edge, knowing that I'd storm off and hide in my quarters where I could hit no one until I cooled off. God I love that woman. "Telfer to Celes."

"Celes here," came her swift reply.

"Thanks," I smiled.

"No worries, Celes out."

Now, how the hell was I going to beat Ayala?

- Velocity -

Of all the matches so far, this was the one I was the most concerned about. So far I'd won two of three. Which meant I needed at least one more win to be competitive and if I managed to win both of my last matches, I'd definitely advance. I could afford to lose to Ayala, but if I secured a win, I'd be much better off. I started my usual warm up routine and I channelled my ire at Tom Paris into my exercises. I needed a cool head to prevail in this match.

"Uh," mumbled a voice from near the turbolift, catching my attention. I glanced up from near the floor, where I was currently stretching next to my ankle and looked behind me. Ayala's mouth was ajar as he looked at me. He frowned a little and I thought he might be upset about my explosion before. I felt bad about threatening him earlier in the mess hall so an apology was in order.

I straightened my posture and turned to the ex-maquis officer. "I'm sorry about before. I was angry and I say stupid things when I'm angry."

Ayala's eyes snapped up to meet mine and I felt something flutter in my chest. "That's okay," he started to smile. We looked at each other for a bit and were surprised when the holodeck doors slid open.

Shaking off the security officer's stare, I started to walk toward the door. "Are you coming?" I called out without a backward glance.

I was blue this time. Looking at Ayala, his face was impassive at his colour. Lines formed along his face as he started to concentrate on the match and for the first time at such a close distance, I could fully appreciate why he was second only to Tuvok. I had a bad feeling I was going to get whipped. Shaking my head, I realised the match was about to start and I was too busy looking at Ayala's lovely profile.

"Ready," noted the computer, startling me. I gripped my phaser and shot the hovering disc the moment I spotted it. It began to advance on Ayala but he was too fast for the disc. We traded shots until the blasted thing hit me in the shoulder. Ayala's face allowed a smirk to show through and I found my rage from earlier return with a startling vengeance.

I won the next three points in a few tightly contested points and I could feel the moment Ayala lost his smile. Suddenly, the stoic look was back and I lost four in a row. We traded blows until we reached to score nine-seven in the Lieutenant's favour. What had possessed me to play two matches in one day? My muscles were already aching and I'd need one long session in the sonic shower to feel even slightly human.

"Ready," chimed the computer again. The disc was hovering near Ayala's shoulder and sensing a quick point, I shot at the disc only to barely miss it. Ayala shot it and it sped toward me. I ran around it, causing the disc to alter its trajectory. I eventually managed to shoot it and it pelted after the security officer. We traded shots until I found the disc headed my way. I backed up only to run into a solid barrier but I was nowhere near the edge of the court. I realised Ayala was behind me. I shot at the disc, intentionally missing. Just as the disc was about to collect my head, I dropped to the floor, hearing the disc collide with Ayala. I'd survived the point.

"You sneaky bitch," muttered Ayala with a smirk. He sounded rather impressed.

I quickly scrambled from the floor but not fast enough as the disc rematerialised near me and Ayala zapped it my way, clocking me in the head. Damn. At least I'd come a lot closer to victory than I originally thought I would. I shook the security officer's hand and I felt more in that moment from his touch than I did getting hit twenty times in total today (some of which still hurt like a bitch) in my two games of velocity.

"Nice job," smiled Ayala. Bastard.

"You too," I gave a half-smile in response. Of course, the only reason I didn't win was because I had already played Tuvok earlier. Otherwise I would have wiped that damn irritating smirk right off of his face. Bastard.

Ayala gestured to the turbolift. "Wanna go hang out in the mess hall?" His smile/smirk seemed to be permanent.

"Not right now," I declined. He looked a little put out after that, which I will admit caused me to feel somewhat better in some sort of sadistic way. "After the two matches I had today, I think I need a long session in the sonic shower. My muscles are killing me."

The smile completely removed itself from the Lieutenant as a thoughtful look crossed his face. "I could give you a massage if you like. I'm told I'm quite good at them."

As tempting as the offer was, I had already decided on a different course of action. "Maybe some other time," I answered the non-question. Giving the man a smile, I headed into the turbolift with Ayala following. I got off at my floor leaving him behind and somehow, already feeling his absence. What has gotten into me of late?

I soaked in the sonic shower for an ungodly amount of time before throwing on a loose fitting tan shirt and black slacks. For the first time in what seemed like ages but was only a few short days, I headed to sickbay.

The door swished open and I stepped in to find the room empty. "Computer, activate EMH," I commanded.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency." The Doctor intoned before he glanced my way. An expression of both surprise and a little fondness crossed his usually impassive face. "Crewman Telfer, what a pleasant surprise. I was wondering if I would ever see you again since it's been a few days since you're, er, encounter."

I sheepishly looked back. "It was..." I started without any clear indication of what the hell I would follow it up with. "Er... horrifying. I actually thought I would die that time. It made all those other visits seem quite stupid. So I made a pact that unless I was dying, I wouldn't contact you."

Before I could even move or explain anything further, the Doctor had his medical tricorder in hand and was performing a basic scan.

"Wait, I'm not actually dying or anything!" I said. The Doctor halted his movements and stared levelly at me. "You see, I've been doing this damn velocity competition..."

Before I could continue the Doc sighed with acute exasperation. "If I had known such a contest would increase my workload to this extent I would have been much more vocal against it's implementation."

I blinked in his direction. "What do you mean?"

"I've had three crewmen in with dehydration, six with stomach complaints (although that could also be Neelix's culinary talents once again on display) four examples of cramps, eighteen looking for an adrenaline hypospray to battle fatigue before duty (which I of course denied since they were stupid enough to schedule a match before a duty shift. They should suffer the consequences) and to top it all off, I had Tom Paris in here to repair a fractured collar bone after his lovely wife found out about some sort of pool he had going on and one of her friends that was involved."

I suppose the Doc has the ability to speak for such long periods of time without breath since he is a hologram but it was a lot of information to take in at once. Sighing with discontent, I let the doctor know that the last titbit of information was about me but I'd only tell him about it if he'd give me a massage. A few years ago, I'd been experiencing genuine cramps which (once again due to Neelix's cooking) were resisting the usual hypospray cocktail that was usually recommended in such situations. Foregoing the treatments when it was obviously doing nothing to remedy the situation, the Doc decided to try a more old-fashioned way to ease the stomach complaint. He was naturally trained in many culture's forms of massage and was rather good at it. Right now, I needed some deep tissue work. Very, very badly. So badly I was willing to share gossip about myself. Something I'd never done before.

The Doc sighed with exaggerated exasperation and gestured to a nearby biobed. If I hadn't spotted his almost hidden smile, I might have actually fallen for his disgruntled routine. Then again, I'd seen it quite a bit over the last few years. I might be completely immune to it. He instructed me to remove my shirt which I hastened to comply. The offending garment was tossed aside and I settled myself face-down on the biobed. The Doc started his ministrations and I couldn't hold back a few contented sighs. I ramblingly related the mess hall fiasco earlier today and listened to some of the snide remarks the Doc made. We then chatted about regular gossip before Ensign Kyoto came storming in with blood dripping down her front from a slightly worse than superficial cut on her forehead, causing our discussion to end. Which was a shame really since the doctor had been telling an amusing story about a couple of crewmen having a not-so-secret date in the pub at Fairhaven who kept getting interrupted by a certain drunken Talaxian. I left sickbay and was quickly asleep in my quarters mere nanoseconds later.

- Velocity -

I was awakened just before my alarm would normally sound by my door chime. "Come in," I muttered blearily as I sat up on my bed. The door swished open and before my mind could process what was going on, I was tackled by a small body which was giggling with glee.

"Hi Billy!" chirped a very loud and definitely cute Naomi Wildman as the little girl proceeded to hug the life out of me.

"Hey Miss Wildman," I smiled. There was no way I could be my grumpy usual not-morning self to such a sweet child.

"I'm so sorry," apologised Samantha from the doorway. "I didn't know you were asleep. The computer just said you were in your quarters..."

"Don't worry about it," I interrupted and waved the woman in. "Computer, lights." The room illuminated causing me to wince and Naomi to pout.

"I liked it better in the dark." It was hard to solemnly agree when I just wanted to squeal at the girl's adorableness.

Samantha moved to the bedside and gently gathered her daughter in her arms. "I was hoping to fit our match in this morning but I couldn't possibly do that now since I woke you up."

I was about to disagree but I needed to win this last match and to do so I'd need all my wits about me. "Well, how about we complete our match after our shifts?" I offered.

"Sounds good. I'll book us in," said Samantha as she hustled her daughter to the door and apologised for the early wake up call again.

A quick replicated meal and a fast walk to Engineering later, I was checking out our pool on the computer since I had (once again) completed my set tasks with plenty of time to spare. Tuvok and Ayala were both through to the next round of the competition leaving only one more place. If I lost to Samantha, Megan would be the person taking that slot and as much as I like the girl, that sure as hell was not going to happen. Although I knew it would break little Naomi's heart to see me thrash her mother, it was a necessary evil. I will be getting through to the next round, no matter what!

B'Elanna was feeling generous (or perhaps sorry on her husband's behalf) and let me leave my post a little early to prepare for my match. Samantha appeared a little later and soon we were engaged in battle. Unfortunately for the mother, I was hungrier than ever for the win after my two losses yesterday. Since I convinced Doc to give me a nice, deep massage, I was feeling better than normal and thrashed the woman 10-0. As we were shaking hands the woman gave me a half-hearted smile and a congratulations before high-tailing it out of the holodeck to retrieve her daughter from Tom Paris.

I felt amazing. There was little guilt in me since I had failed so miserably yesterday. I arrived at our table in the mess hall and was enjoying being the centre of attention of our small circle when I heard a snarl from behind. Turning to face the source, I was taken aback by the angry face of the smallest and youngest crewmember of Voyager. The young Wildman stormed her way over to me and folded her arms with a glare.

"You were so mean to Mommy," the girl began. "You didn't even let her win one point." Before I could formulate any sort of reply, her hard gaze dimmed to a speculative one in mere moments. "You're really good at Velocity, Billy." A look of admiration adorned her features. "You look really nice too." She reached up and gave me a wet, sloppy peck on the cheek.

I was unable to formulate any form of a reply and looked helplessly at my friends. Everyone with the exception of Tal were looking on in complete astonishment. Tal, of course, was giggling silently and trying not to collapse on the table.

"There you are!" announced a harassed sounding Neelix as he ran over and grabbed the little girl's hand. "Naomi! Tom told you to stay where I could see you."

"But I had to talk to Billy, he's so pretty!" the girl unashamedly announced. This time Tal's snickers were quite audible, even over Megan's cooing.

Neelix's stern expression softened and he grinned. "Have I ever told you about the Aurelian flower?" he asked the girl who shook her head. "Oh they're the most beautiful flower you can find in the Perinaxis Star-System. Their purple and dark blue leaves are the prettiest and smell better than a Tarkanian Rainstorm." The look of wonder on Naomi's face was beautiful and even I wished I'd seen the blossoms for myself. "Although they're so stunning, many an Aurelian Lizard have found themselves the unwitting food of the flower."

Naomi's face started in surprise before looking at me in horror. "You mean he's going to eat me?" she all but shrieked.

"No, no, no. Of course not," Neelix soothed, "but just because he's nice to look at, it doesn't mean he's nice."

"That's right," agreed Naomi. "He was mean to Mommy in the game." She gave me another dark look before flouncing off to Neelix's kitchen, the Talaxian hurrying in her wake.

"I think someone has an admirer," crooned Tal with a wicked grin, causing us to crack up in laughter.

"Maybe but I have a new set of challengers to scope out, catch you all later," I said as I excused myself from the table. Pretending not to notice the two small eyes staring at me near the entrance of the Mess Hall, I returned to my quarters and researched my new opponents. I have new battles to win.


End file.
